Gulf waters flood into Samut Prakan coastline

High tides last night led to upper Gulf waters flowing over an embankment and flooding the homes of irrigation officials and a nearby community at Samut Prakan, south of Bangkok.

Samut Prakan governor Chatchai Uthaiphan says he dispatched officials to help evacuate local residents adding the water was about one-metre high and that officials had helped relocate elderly people and children from the flooded areas. However, some people had decided to stay at their houses for fear of theft.

The director of the Chonlahan Phichit Irrigation Project in Samut Prakan’s Klong Dan district, Chaiporn Promsuwan, stressed that the embankment did not collapse as had been reported by several news agencies and widely shared on social media.

Chaiporn said the seawater gushed into the community, which is home to 50 families of officers, because of high tide, and flowed over the embankment around 8pm last night. The irrigation project is building a pumping station at the spot, he added.

Chaiporn spoke to reporters at 10.30 pm last night. He said the water had subsided by 20 centimeters and the project would wait for the sea water to further subside before using the two existing pumping stations to pump the water out. He says that residents should not panic as the flood waters would eventually flow into a drainage canal.

Officials are repairing the embankment today. Officials and rescuers patrolled the community throughout the night to prevent theft.

SOURCE: The Nation